The Episteme of Body and the Problem of Environment Concerning the Early Protestant Medical Mission in Korea

Abstract

Descriptions on human being, made from either historical or cultural perspectives, are almost concentrated on the ontological meaning of man. This is not so much different even if those perspectives include realistic problems of living. For example, neither materialistic historicism nor its theory of culture is different from idealistic perspectives. In that, the former is also seeking for oncological meaning of man. If any difference, it is not the final goal but the way of' approach to it. However, the descriptions of human being in relation to the environment much more realistically concentrates on his/her living conditions titan his/her ontological meaning. Recognizing the inevitable situations of humanness in which he/she exists is more necessary. In other words, the questions on human being raised with the environmental problems are different from other existing questions to that those questions put priority not on human mind but on human body.